


Volume

by bromanticheartmates (justmagnusbane)



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Fluff, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Mention of Child Abuse, Mention of Mental Illness, ian is a good husband, possible PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23498818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justmagnusbane/pseuds/bromanticheartmates
Summary: Mickey doesn't like loud noises and fuck if living in the Gallagher house doesn't guarantee loud noise.aka Mickey gets anxious and Ian is a good husband.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Kev Ball/Veronica Fisher, Lip Gallagher/Tami Tamietti
Comments: 15
Kudos: 384





	Volume

Communication and observational skills came easily to some people. Those people, quite frankly, were exceptionally lucky. They didn’t have to try and force themselves to partake in conversation, or try and make themselves as small as possible so as to avoid being drawn into one involuntarily. They probably didn’t have to avoid public spaces just to try and avoid the inevitable small talk that apparently had to happen if two people – no matter how close – stepped into the same room.

They also probably didn’t have to deal with the Gallaghers, who only ever shut up when someone died or if they were snooping into each other’s business.

They didn’t understand Mickey’s suffering.

As it was, the only peace Mickey ever found in the Gallagher house was when his new sibling-in-laws were attempting to snoop in on his and Ian’s conversations, or on the very rare occasional that someone they knew finally bit the dust. And seeing as though that had only really happened once – and Mickey had been on his way into Mexico at that point – the latter seemed unlikely.

As such, he’d pretty much just had to suck it up and try and power through what he considered literal hell. Even juvie, and later, prison, weren’t as loud as the Gallagher house.

Ian was aware of how crazy it drove him and after laughing at his irritation one too many times, had finally caved and shouted at his siblings to keep it down. If a week later, Lip, Tami and the baby moved back in because their new place had asbestos and the RV had recently been sold for a fraction of it’s worth, then no one said anything about the subsequent increase in noise. Mickey appeared to be the only one who noticed.

The first time Mickey lost it at the noise in the house, was 2 weeks after the wedding. Since officially and legally becoming a Gallagher, he had been attempting to get comfortable both in the house and around his new family So, he’d started trying to behave exactly how he behaved when he and Ian were alone; a mix between his usual grumpy self, and more subdued, unapologetically affectionate self.

The kitchen was busy; Sandy had stayed the night in Debbie’s old room, which they were temporarily sharing with Franny once more. Debbie herself had been let out on bail a day or two prior, hence their attachment to one another. Tami and Lip were rushing around the room attempting to feed a near hysterical Fred, and Carl and Liam had taken to playing some sort of hand slapping game over their plates of eggs. If that wasn’t bad enough, V and Kev had come over with the girls to steal frozen waffles and apparently had been charmed by the noise so stayed for breakfast. Franny, Gemma and Amy were subsequently chasing each other, pieces of waffle flying sporadically around the kitchen.

When Ian and Mickey finally came downstairs, both aching pleasantly from particularly rough morning sex, they were met with nothing but noise.

Ian looked just as confused as Mickey for a moment before he shrugged with an airy laugh and darted into the fold to grab two plates of eggs. Mickey stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the crowd around him with obvious bewilderment.

Kev was the first to notice.

“Ian screw your brains out there, Mickey?”

Mickey was immediately brought back to the present, frowning at Kev in the most threatening way he could manage seeing as he was no doubt still glowing from 2 rounds of amazing sex with his husband.

Ian just laughed. “You could hear us?”

The noise in the kitchen quietened slightly, although the 3 children continued to scream and chase one another.

“How could we not?” Sandy teased, smirking over her shoulder at her older cousin.

Mickey forced himself to unfreeze, showing her the finger as he stormed past a particularly frazzled looking Tami to take his plate from Ian’s outstretched hand. Ian smiled softly, leaning forward to peck his cheek. The noise that followed made Mickey grit his teeth in irritation.

“Aw, Mick’s all domesticated”, Lip joked not unkindly as he scraped a chair across the floor to sit in front of his son. He began to feed Freddy, but apparently the way he did so annoyed Tami because she immediately piped up to complain.

To be honest, Tami was a bit of a sore spot for Mickey. For some reason her voice was particularly annoying to him, and he couldn’t quite understand why.

Ian must have noticed Mickey’s climbing frustration because he slipped his hand across the small of his back, rubbing his thumb back and forth softly. Mickey allowed the distraction, leaning into Ian’s side slightly as he brought the fork to his mouth and started eating his dinner. Ian did the same from the kitchen counter, keeping his arm securely around Mickey’s waist

“Actually, that reminds me”, Debbie began as she rose from the table and began moving around the kitchen with her dirty plate. Her arm hit Mickey’s back, forcing Ian to pull his hand away. Thankfully, Ian glared her so that Mickey didn’t have to. The younger redhead didn’t seem to notice and continued to move around them, shuffling them and jostling them. Mickey zoned her out as she rambled about something entirely irrelevant to him.

Sandy eventually joined the conversation and sooner than he expected, Ian was sucked in as well. Mickey simply stood back, leaning against his husband and attempting to calm his mildly racing heart.

When Tami started to loudly complain about something or other, Mickey grit his teeth and didn’t hesitate to glare at the blonde. It took her less than 30 seconds to notice.

“What’s your problem?” she shouted, clearly still irritated from whatever she was previously talking about.

Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to Mickey, and were it not for the fact that he was now the centre of attention, he might have been grateful for the silence. Ian bristled immediately, and Mickey could tell without looking at him that the younger man had a frown on his face.

Mickey met Tami’s eye and simply raised his eyebrow once, meaningfully. Tami’s frown deepened and she took a deep breath before she spoke again.

“If you have a problem then just say so, asshole.”

Mickey rolled his eyes, but continued to eat his food silently. It was Ian that finally spoke.

“Watch your tone”, Ian said quietly. His voice wasn’t aggressive, but there was a very obvious warning behind it.

Lip noticed it immediately, and glared at his brother. “Ian, back off.”

Ian snorted once. “Why’s she talking to Mick like that?”

Tami straightened her shoulders, slamming Fred’s bottle down on the table beside Lip. “He’s glaring at me. The fuck have I done wrong?”

Mickey refrained from baring his teeth. “You’re all always so goddamn noisy in the morning. Sorry if I’m not in the mood to listen to you complain about how College isn’t feeding the kid properly. The kids getting food in his mouth, end the-fuck of.”

Lip seemed surprised that Mickey had defended him, even if it hadn’t been said with that in mind. He settled back slightly, clearly less annoyed now. Meanwhile, Ian tipped his head to laugh quietly under his breath. His reaction appeared to anger Tami further.

“Just because you didn’t give a shit about your kid doesn’t mean it’s wrong for the rest of us to put in a little extra care”, she spat in defence as she moved to take the spoon from Lip’s hand.

Surprisingly, Kev was the first to speak.

“Hey!” he said, sitting back slightly in shock.

Ian stood up straight like someone had pulled his strings up. He glared powerfully at Tami. “Who the-”

Mickey quickly put his hand out to stop Ian. “Fuck you know about my kid?”

Tami nodded once to Lip, before casting her eyes to V. “I’m family now, we’ve talked about it when we were talking about the kids.”

V seemed nervous immediately. “We were just talking about how we raised Yev together for a while.”

Mickey nodded once, curtly, at V. He turned back to Tami. With a deep breath he put his plate down on the counter and took a step towards her. Lip sat up slightly, clearly unsure where Mickey was going but displeased with the anger radiating from him. Mickey could distinctly feel Ian’s eyes follow him.

“All of you need to learn how to shut the fuck up”, Mickey began slowly. “Some of us actually enjoy the whole chill-in-bed-for-a-couple-of-hours thing on a Sunday fucking morning. And when I was already woken up at 7 am to your kid screaming and couldn’t get back to sleep cause then YOU starting screaming, I think I’m a little entitled to be pissed. So how about you sit the fuck down and feed your fucking kid, without making every damn thing an excuse to be fucking loud.” He turned to move back to Ian’s side, but paused, looking back. “Oh, and you don’t know shit about Yev. So, keep your mouth shut.”

Ian seemed impressed, clearly having expected Mickey to be far more aggressive. He smirked slightly, finishing his mouthful of eggs.

Lip quietly took the spoon back from Tami, who sat silently glaring up at Mickey. Lip began to feed Fred again, and didn’t look at Mickey when he spoke. “Don’t worry Mick, we’ll be out of here in a couple of days. But good luck if you two idiots ever adopt.”

Mickey shrugged. “Least I know my partner won’t be bitchin’ every 2 seconds”, he spat with one last glare at Tami. Tami bared her teeth as she frowned.

“We’ll keep it down. Sorry Mickey”, Liam said politely as he and Carl started up their hand slapping game once again, this time far more quietly than they had been.

Sandy grinned up at Mickey from where she sat next to Debbie. “Hey, cousin-in-law?”

Ian perked up immediately, grinning over the edge of his cup of coffee. “Yep?”

“Go take Mick back to bed”, she smirked.

“Preferably to fuck the angry out of him”, Kev said simply, winking over at Mickey when the Milkovich scowled.

V giggled. “Works with me”, she said as she called her daughters over to eat their waffles. With the game finally stopping, Franny returned to her mother’s side and the 3 daughters sat quietly stuffing their faces with food.

“Works for him too”, Ian said simply as he walked past Mickey, gripping his wrist and dragging him up the stairs. Mickey ignored the catcalling, thankful at least that Tami’s shrill voice wasn’t audible.

The next time Mickey got angry at one of the Gallaghers for the constant noise it was Liam, and he immediately felt like an ass.

It had been a stressful couple of weeks for Liam, who had been desperately trying to deal with some sort of new bully that seemed hell bent on harassing the new basketball coach “wannabe”. Mickey had heard the younger boy confiding in Ian about it days prior, but it was on a Wednesday, when Mickey was sent home early, that he saw something that made his blood boil.

Liam stood against the counter in the kitchen, nursing a cold beer and a wet cloth against his cheek which, under the light, Mickey could see was oozing fresh blood. His eye was slightly swollen and his lip was split.

Mickey didn’t hesitate, throwing his coat down onto the couch and storming his way into the kitchen.

“The fuck is this?” he demanded.

Liam flinched at the sudden noise, and cast frantic eyes up at Mickey as he dropped the beer onto the counter. The older man spared a thought for how adorable the kid could look when he wanted to, before he straightened his face back into an intimidating frown.

“It’s nothing”, Liam insisted.

Mickey snorted immediately, leaning against the counter and folding his arms across his chest. “Spill, lil’ Gallagher”

Liam rolled his eyes but sighed in defeat. “It’s just some older boys at school.”

“Who?”

Liam shook his head frantically. “No-“

“-Give me a name, kid”, Mickey demanded, refusing to back down.

Had he not been raising his voice at the younger boy, he might have heard the door go and Ian slip in quietly, having finished an early morning EMT shift. The redhead paused in the living room, unsure what he was walking in on. His little brother and husband continued to argue in the kitchen.

“Mickey, leave it alone!”

“No fucking way, Gallagher. Give me names or so help me I’ll starve you ‘til you cave.”

“You don’t even cook!”

Mickey threw his hands up in frustration. “Then I’ll distract Ian so _he_ doesn’t cook.”

“That’s not fair! I’ll just make my own dinner!”

“Alright, Jesus Kid, calm the fuck do-“

Liam continued to scream over him, clearly upset and worked up over the situation. It was the only real time Ian could recall seeing his little brother truly act his age.

Liam’s rising voice was apparently enough to piss Mickey off considerably. “LIAM!”

Liam froze, and even Ian stopped in his quiet approach. He trusted his husband, but he couldn’t help the small surge of protective instinct that came over him when he saw his little brother flinch.

Mickey instantly lowered his voice when he saw the look on Liam’s face. “Just-“, he hesitated for a moment, clearly embarrassed at having lost his cool if the way he ran his hand over the back of his head was any indication. “Just- Please stop shouting.”

Ian smiled slightly; Mickey’s voice was probably the softest he had ever heard it.

“If you really don’t want me to kick their asses, I won’t”, the brunet began. “But if you think I’m letting this continue without saying something you got another thing coming.”

Liam fumbled with the cloth against his face, flustered.

“Hey”, Mickey said kindly. “You’re my brother or some shit now, right?”

Liam rolled his eyes in a way that such a young child probably shouldn’t be able to, but shrugged. Mickey nodded. “I love your brother. I’d die for him in a heartbeat. And seeing as you’re _his_ brother, and now _apparently_ mine, I’d do the same for you. So… the least we’re doing is storming into that school and looking your fuckface bullies in the face as we get ‘em expelled. Okay?”

Liam was silent for a moment, his eyes scanning Mickey slowly as though attempting to figure out what he was looking at. Ian held his breath, and could distinctly see Mickey’s chest puff as he did the same.

“Okay”, Liam finally relented. “But don’t tell Ian?”

That was Ian’s cue.

“Too late”, he said cheerfully as he sauntered his way into the kitchen. He took the beer that Liam had been using as an icepack from his hand, cracked it open and took a deep swig. “We’re going in tomorrow, okay?”

Liam groaned loudly, pushing himself off of the counter and heading upstairs. “Fine”, he called down the stairs.

Ian grinned over the neck of the bottle. Mickey’s eyes darted around in attempt to avoid the look, but it only made Ian more determined to catch his gaze.

When he finally succeeded, Ian beamed at his husband. “I fucking love you, alright?”

Mickey rolled his eyes, and in some strange way he resembled Liam in that moment. Ian snorted at the thought.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, fuckface.”

The next time wasn’t actually at the house, but instead at the Alibi. Strangely enough it wasn’t even because their volume pissed Mickey off.

Ian, Mickey, Lip, Carl and Sandy had met at the Alibi to celebrate Kev and V’s anniversary with them. Debbie was stuck at work, and Tami and Liam had stayed home to watch Fred or watch movies with Franny respectively.

Initially Mickey had been reluctant to attend, seeing at how he was most definitely not all that close to either Kev or V. Once upon a time, when they had opened the Rub-And-Tug, there had been some semblance of friendship between him and Kev but that had long since faded over the years. Despite that, if there was one fault Kevin Ball definitely didn’t have it was being unfriendly.

It was for that reason that the night ended up going well, with not an ounce of awkwardness between the siblings and the happy couple. They were all pleasantly buzzed when trouble walked through the door.

Mickey hadn’t seen his older brother in a few years; prison, Mexico and impromptu trips back to Chicago to turn himself in, followed by more prison, had kind of meant that Mickey hadn’t had the chance to really even think about his siblings. The most he had done was spare a thought or two for Mandy when Ian updated him about how she was doing after their biweekly catchups.

So, seeing Iggy Milkovich burst through the door of the Alibi left Mickey a little speechless.

Ian was the first to break.

“Iggy?”

Iggy turned at the sound of his name, his eyes lighting up when he spotted them.

“Holy shit! Thank fuck I found you asswipes!” He approached their table quickly, ignoring the loud noise of the remaining Gallaghers around him.

Mickey frowned. “The fuck?”

Iggy grinned down at him, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nice to see you too fuckface. Maybe a call would be nice; y’know, that you didn’t get killed down in Mexico and instead apparently turned yourself in? The fuck was that?!”

Mickey didn’t say anything, his frown deepening.

Iggy shrugged, any semblance of happiness slipping from his face. “Listen, I was at the house and heard dad talking to some friend of his-“

“-Who?” Mickey couldn’t help but interrupt.

“That dealer Lee guy?”

“That morbidly obese guy that used to deal down near the Kash and Grab? Swastika on his neck? He’s still _alive_?” Ian piped up; curiosity peaked even further.

Iggy nodded rigorously. “Anyway, it don’t matter who it was. That piece of shit bursts into the house, says he’s seen the faggot Milkovich down the bar.”

Mickey froze.

“He’s coming here?” Ian demanded, suddenly frantic. His eyes fell to his siblings, concern obvious.

The noise from their table crept up, Lips laugh booming across the room as Sandy and Kev shouted obnoxiously.

Mickey’s entire body tensed and coiled in preparation, but their noise sent a sharp chill down his spine. His eyes darted, panicked, between Iggy’s lips – moving but not-audible – and the Gallagher’s shouting beside him. Before he even realised he was doing it, his heartrate had spiked and he was shouting.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

The bar went quiet. Despite all the years of Mickey’s reputation slowly dwindling with his increasing closeness to the Gallaghers, he was still a Milkovich.

Sandy reacted like a soldier called to the frontlines, her shoulder settling back and her eyes alert and ready when she looked at him. Ian tensed beside him, pointedly ignoring his siblings’ looks of confusion and anger.

“Is he coming?”

Iggy seemed distant.

“IGGY!” Mickey snapped, pushing his brother’s shoulder.

Iggy startled. He looked between Ian and Mickey for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, man. He’s on his way down here with Lee and the boys”. Mickey swore. “With guns”, Iggy clarified.

This time Ian swore. He turned to his family quickly. “Lip, Carl, Sandy. Get the fuck back to the house.”

Lip stood up as Ian turned to grab Mickey and leave. “Hey, woah! Stop, man! What the fuck is happening, what do you mean go home?”

Ian spun on his heel. “I mean my Nazi piece of shit father-in-law in coming to shoot me and my husband, so get the fuck home before he decides to shoot my brothers for fun too!”

Lip recoiled. “Wait, you serious?”

“Obviously”, Mickey spat. “This is the guy who burned down a fucking building just to stop us getting married, and then shot our hotel room to shit the morning after to try and literally fucking kill us.”

The bar was silent, their table staring at the pair in shock. Clearly Ian hadn’t told them that bit.

“MICKEY! YOU FUCKING FAGGOT!”

Mickey flinched, his grip on Ian’s arm tightening. He forced the younger man forward towards his brothers. “Get the fuck home.”

Ian pushed himself from his sibling’s arms. “Fuck THAT! I’m staying with you!”

“Like fuck you are!”

“’Till death do us part, asshole!”

Mickey rolled his eyes, sparing a moment to watch as Kev shoved a chair under the handle of the door. Lip moved too, pushing one of the tables up against the door. Mickey forced himself not to snort; like that shit would stop Terry.

“Don’t have time for this Gallagher”, he warned lowly.

Ian laughed humourlessly. “Agreed, _Gallagher_.”

Mickey ignored the warmth that bloomed in his chest, his attention instead drawn to the bar entrance as his father’s silhouette slammed into the door.

“MICKEY, YOU PIECE OF SHIT. GET THE FUCK OUT HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN YOU PANSY FUCK!”

Sandy and Iggy both moved to stand in front of their family, Sandy squaring her shoulder and glaring a hole in the door. Iggy seemed a little more unsure, but surprised Mickey by not immediately getting out of the way to avoid the inevitable incoming violence.

“GET YOUR FAG ASS OUT HERE! OH, AND BRING YOUR LITTLE BITCH WITH YOU, YOU FUCKING FUDGE PACKER!”

Ian flinched at Terry’s words, but glared at Mickey in a way that said he wasn’t going anywhere.

Mickey groaned loudly as he rolled his eyes. “Fucking Gallaghers”, he swore under his breath as he pulled his pistol from where it was tucked into his jeans.

As though having felt Mickey do so, Sandy and Iggy both moved to do the same; Iggy pulling his .22 from his back pocket and Sandy slipping her pistol from her boot. The three Milkoviches stared at the door as it shook in its frame.

Kev dragged V behind the bar, taking the opportunity to grab Stan’s slugger from behind the bar and quickly checking it was loaded. The nervous grin on his face suggested it was.

“He’s a fucking psycho”, Lip spat as he forced Carl behind him where he stood off to the side of Ian.

Ian snorted but Mickey didn’t react, instead flipping the safety off of the gun and taking a deep breath as the chair and table were finally forced from the doorway and Terry and 3 of his friends became visible.

It was clear that their fag bash had been impromptu, as only two had guns on them. The other two had a baseball bat and their curled fists respectively.

Mickey almost laughed.

“There you are”, Terry sneered as he spotted Mickey. His eyes flickered to Ian and his teeth bared. “Well if it isn’t the little ginger faggot.”

Ian smirked slightly. “Good to see you too, Terry”, he spat sarcastically.

Terry raised his gun with a growl.

Mickey reacted instantly, side stepping until he was squarely in front of his husband. “Put the gun down, you old piece of shit”, he warned firmly.

Terry snorted, tightening his grip on the gun. “Think you can shoot first, faggot?”

Sandy stepped forward; her fingers curled tightly around her own gun. “Bet I can”, she said almost conversationally. There wasn’t an ounce of fear in her voice, and Mickey had a brief surge of amusement at that.

Iggy shrugged, doing the same. “Or me.”

Terry spotted his other son, and laughed derivatively. “Oh, the retard can shoot now, huh?”

Mickey growled and for the first time Ian could see the resemblance between the man and his father. They both wore their anger the same way.

“Back the fuck up Pops or I swear to God I’m putting a bullet between your fucking eyes.”

“You do that, Mick. But I’ll get a bullet in your little bitch before you can so much as move.”

Ian seemed unreasonably angered by the use of Mickey’s nickname, stepping out slightly from behind his partner. “Leave us the fuck alone, Terry.”

Terry smirked. “No Milkovich is walking ‘round the South Side a fucking queer”, he sneered.

“Guess you got two now”, Ian taunted. “Right? I’m a Milkovich now so I guess there’s two Milkovich fags”, he spat the slur so violently that even Terry seemed surprised at his gall.

It only lasted a second though before the older man yelled in rage and a sharp crack was heard at the gun fired and a bullet shot across the room. Ian ducked as it whizzed by him, the light against the wall behind him bursting into glass.

Mickey stepped forward, one hand dropping from the gun as the other pointed steadily at his father. Hearing Ian swear behind him, Mickey didn’t hesitate.

Terry shouted in surprise, dropping his hand to clutch the hole in his leg.

Immediately his lackies prepared for a fight, but Sandy reacted straight away and shot Lee in the side as the larger man approached. The other two stepped over their friends, sneers on their faces. Mickey switched his aim and shot one twice in the arm, before Iggy shot at the ground in front of the last. He flinched back, and finally gave up, dropping the bat in his hand. His glare never lessened.

Ian stepped forward then, grabbing Mickey’s hand to stop it shaking as he moved it back down to aim squarely at his father’s head.

The older man curled his lip back, baring his teeth again. “Do it, you fucking pussy. Dead’s better than seeing your cock-sucking face.”

Almost instantly, Mickey dropped his hand. “Then no”, he said definitively. He turned to Kev, who stood behind the bar, shock and pleasant surprise on his face. “Call the police.”

“Fucking aids monkey”, Terry spat into the floor as he tightened his grip on his thigh. “Little rat.”

“I’ll happily be a snitch if it means you get to fucking rot in prison every day for the rest of your life, you miserable piece of shit”, Mickey said passionately, his hand waving as he spoke.

Ian finally managed to pry the gun from his husband’s fingers, flicking the safety on and tucking it into his jeans under his shirt. Mickey allowed it.

There was an unspoken moment between the two when Mickey finally met Ian’s eye again. Without a word, Ian turned to his brother.

“You guys got this?”

Lip nodded sharply. He gestured to the bar patrons around them, all of whom were out of their seats, more than a few of them grasping their guns tightly.

Ian hummed once, before gently reaching for Mickey’s hand. He didn’t take it, but he held his hand out, waiting for Mickey to take. The older man looked down at his father for a moment and a glaze passed over his eyes. His shoulders tensed up, but after a moment he reached across the distance to grasp his husband’s outstretched hand.

Ian gently pulled Mickey out of the back door of the Alibi and the pair didn’t speak until they got home. When they finally arrived at the Gallagher house, Ian silently undressed his husband and climbed into bed beside him. The pair didn’t speak until the next morning, when, as the sun shone through the small industrial window in their room, Ian woke up to a quiet “thank you.”

It took until the 4th time for Mickey to even notice a trend. The house had been waiting for Fiona to arrive, who was visiting from her new home in Michigan, having found a stable job and home to be able to come and check on her siblings. There was a quiet hum over the room as everyone chattered excitedly, Debbie bouncing her daughter on her knee with a nervous energy, and Lip cradling his son with nothing but dread on his face. Ian was sitting in the arm chair, rocking forwards and backwards on his toes. Mickey understood the excitement; he too would be bouncing if he was about to see his sister for the first time since being in prison.

When Fiona’s cab finally pulled up, Mickey, who had been lounging comfortable (it wasn’t his sister after all) had felt his nerves skyrocket. It dawned on him as he could see the matriarch of the Gallagher family’s shadow approach the door that he hadn’t seen her since the day he was arrested after outrunning a trigger-happy Sammi. Since then he was sure that his fugitive status had adequately biased Fiona against him as a partner for Ian. That and he was now her little brother’s husband.

In that moment of realisation, Mickey suddenly found himself desperate for the older Gallagher’s approval.

When the front door opened and Fiona became visible, the screaming began. V started it, squealing at the site of her best friend for the first time in over a year, and Kev was quick to follow. Franny looked around in confusion for a moment before joining in, propelling herself at Aunt Fiona’s legs. Debbie, Carl and Liam all began speaking, vying for their older sister’s attention excitedly. It was only Lip, Ian, Tami and Mickey that sat back and allowed the moment.

After 5 minutes, the volume still hadn’t died down. Fiona was laughing uncontrollably at her siblings’ excitement, rubbing heads affectionately and squealing in return in V’s arm.

With his growing anxiety and the endless stream of noise, Mickey found his heartrate increasing. He didn’t notice until Ian gave him a strange look that his breathing had increased, and he was panting rather loudly.

Ian was out of his seat in seconds, moving to stand in between Mickey’s legs where he sat on the arm of the chair. He gently took Mickey’s face in his palms, tilting his head back to meet his eyes.

“Mick?”

Mickey tried to focus his eyes but something about the noise left him so disorientated that he couldn’t. Ian seemed to immediately recognise the problem; how, Mickey didn’t know.

“GUYS!”

The room slowly quietened as everyone turned to Ian and saw that he clearly wasn’t joking. Fiona’s eyebrows furrowed before she cast her eyes to Mickey, who had hung his head, resting the crown of it against Ian’s chest as he slowed his breathing. The crease in her brow softened.

“Okay guys”, she chuckled softly, “Enough. You can tell me everything at dinner, let me actually walk through the door.”

As everyone began to spread out, Fiona moved on to her younger brother, cooing down at the baby in his arms.

Mickey zoned her out as she introduced herself to Tami and held Fred for the first time. He focused his attention on Ian’s breathing; he could feel the rise and fall of the younger man’s chest against his head. Ian ran his fingers gently through Mickey’s short hair, tugging slightly at the ends. Mickey appreciated it, the slight spike of pain helped to ground him.

After around 10 minutes, Ian felt his sister’s presence as she slowly approached. His hand stopped moving in Mickey’s hair and the older man must have sensed something because he slowly lifted his head. Fiona looked apprehensive and unsure as she approached so Mickey tried to smile.

“Hey.”

She smiled softly. “Hey, Mickey. Haven’t seen you around here for a while.”

“Could say the same for you”, he said quickly.

Fiona seemed surprised by his quick change in tone, but almost appeared more comfortable with his usual gruff delivery. “Nice to have you back.”

With those words, Mickey felt his shoulders sag a little and his airways open up just slightly. His breathing was still heavy, but he nodded appreciatively to the eldest Gallagher. “You too.”

Fiona finally turned to her little brother and her smile grew exponentially. Suddenly, her fist connected with his arm and Ian hissed as he grabbed the spot she had punched.

“What the fuck, Fi?”

Fiona’s smile dropped. “Don’t ever get married without giving me enough notice to come ever again!”

Ian shrugged. “Don’t plan to.”

Fiona’s eyes darted back to Mickey contemplatively for a second before her smile returned. She looked back to her brother and opened her arms eagerly. Ian didn’t hesitate, other than to stroke a hand over Mickey’s head gently in goodbye, before he wrapped his arms tightly around her, lifting her off of her feet. Fiona giggled, squeezing him tightly.

“I’m happy for you”, she said wistfully as she stroked a hand over the back of his head. Ian melted slightly at the touch; he might be an adult now but his sister would always bring a unique level of comfort that only Mickey came close to replicating.

Ian chuckled wetly, nodding into her shoulder. “How’s Michigan?” he laughed.

Fiona finally pulled away, smiling brightly. “It’s good, yeah. Not Chicago, but… I like it.”

“Good. Bumped into Jimmy Steve yet?”

Fiona snorted, “No! Thank God.”

Mickey appreciated the small talk, probably for the first time in his life, as it kept their attention from him as he finally managed to calm himself down.

Dinner was similar, but luckily Fiona made a point to keep everyone calm and Ian’s hand never strayed from Mickey’s thigh under the table.

It was later in bed that Mickey finally addressed it.

“I think there’s something wrong with me.”

Ian sighed deeply, shifting in the bed until he was on his arm, facing his partner. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

Mickey didn’t grow angry like Ian expected him to, but he sighed too. “Ian”, he said once, looking at his husband incredulously. “I freaked the fuck out because it got too fucking loud. And don’t pretend you haven’t noticed it too; I’ve been doing it for weeks.”

Ian nodded slowly. “I noticed, Mick”, he relented. “But that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. Honestly, with your life? I’m surprised you’ve just noticed that you don’t like loud noises.”

He recoiled slightly, frowning. “Fuck you mean by that?”

Ian shook his head with a breathy laugh. “No, Mick. Nothing bad, but look; you grew up in an abusive household with a loud, violent father. Then you go to prison, and you get used to the quiet. Coming back out into the Gallagher home? I get that it’s too much for you. Fuck sometimes it too much for me these days, since getting out.”

Mickey looked contemplative for a moment, before he nodded. He buried his head in Ian’s neck. “Maybe. Sorry for being fucking weird.”

“You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t fucking weird”, Ian said simply.

“Fuck you”, Mickey couldn’t help but laugh as he swatted Ian’s chest lightly.

The younger man chuckled fondly. “Go to sleep, Mick”, he encouraged gently as he began to run his fingers through Mickey’s hair for the second time that day.

Mickey hummed appreciatively. “Don’t stop doing that. Please.”

Ian looked down at his husband in surprise, but the small smile that spread across his face soon replaced his shock. “I love this side of you”, he said honestly.

“The fucking man-child side?”

“The vulnerable side”, Ian insisted softly.

Mickey scoffed but didn’t argue. It didn’t need to be said or acknowledged; it was obvious that he too enjoyed allowing himself to be vulnerable with Ian.

“Night, Gallagher.”


End file.
